Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Tuesday A.M. Quickie:Can We Stop the Torre Talk, Now?

OK, maybe this news will finally end what promises to be ceaseless hot-stove speculation about the future of the Yankees:

Joe Torre is coming back to the Yankees.

At least, that's what the NY Post says (of course, the NY Daily News was the one who said Sunday that Torre was as good as gone.)

Let's see:

Torre is coming back, presumably by the grace of George. And there's no way that the Boss will eject A-Rod, no matter how much that might bug Torre.

So after the last 72 hours of hysteria about the future of the Yankees, indications are that Torre will be back, A-Rod will be back, the Boss will be back -- and the Yanks will still have their pitching problems.

(Lou Piniella hasn't heard from the Boss, which is another good indicator that the Yankees have no interest in hiring him to replace Torre. Lou also let the Nats know he has no interest in managing them.)

ALCS Game 1: Speaking of pitching problems, the Tigers are dancing with the ones who brung 'em: Ineffective ALDS Game 1 starter Nate Robertson will get the start in Game 1 of the ALCS against Barry Zito, who I would imagine understands that every quality postseason start equals another $10 million or so on his upcoming free-agent contract.

(Who the hell am I to question Jim Leyland? He just ran the Yankees out of the playoffs; he can do what he wants.)

Cubs interview Joe Girardi: Here are a couple questions I might suggest: (1) Can you get along with a GM and ownership group? (2) What do you think Dusty Baker did MOST wrong? (Can you narrow it down?)

MNF: Broncos Beat Ravens in Ugly One. Given that the game was played at Denver and in horrible sloppy weather, I'm trying not to read too much into the Ravens' first loss of the season -- or another big Broncos win over a presumptive AFC contender.

More great news for the Dolphins: Daunte Culpepper might be out for the rest of the season. Nick Saban says he won't play again until he regains his "explosion," whatever that means.

Meanwhile, by default, that means that Joey Harrington is the Dolphins' QB of the present -- and future. Hard to believe that six weeks ago, so many people were touting the Fins as AFC contenders.

Bledsoe will remain the Cowboys QB, according to Bill Parcells, who has, oh, NEVER had a problem with detrimental decisions based on loyalty to "his" QBs. Come on: It's Romo Time, already!

Jags D remains cursed: JAX loses top tackler Peterson. How many more devastating injuries can a great defense have before it starts to take a toll? Coming off a shutout, the/my Jags D lost its top playmaker to a torn pec. Ouch.

Matt Leinart's job just got a lot harder: Larry Fitzgerald, who caught one of Leinart's 2 TD passes on Sunday, is out for a month (or more) with a bad hammy.

NBA Preseason: Raps top Wiz. Why concentrate on this game? Because it was the only one of the night, sure, but also because I'm ready to declare Gilbert Arenas the most intriguing player in the NBA right now.

How do I account for "most intriguing?" It's a combination of on-court skills and off-court personality. And right now, no one has more than "Agent Zero," who had 29 points last night. No word on how he did at his customary halftime game of online poker.

Top NBA Draft pick Andrea Bargnani had 8 points and 4 rebounds in 13 minutes (also notable for 5 fouls). Better preseason debut than Mario Williams in that OTHER league...

I'm hearing more and more about the NBA refs cracking down on excessive whining about calls. There's SUPPOSED to be a quicker T, but I'm waiting to see if "whine-over-calls" poster guy LeBron James earns any.

Crikey! Andrew Bogut is out 6-8 weeks with a leg sprain. So much for the breakthrough season, for him or the Bucks.

Why the hell would Louisville rush Brian Brohm back from his hand injury in time to play against... Cincinnati? Their offense will be fine without him for another week. Shouldn't they be totally focused on having him be as healthy as possible for the West Virginia game?

And since we have a few commenters who seem to care deeply about Michigan WR Mario Manningham, they might have to hold off on that Heisman campaign: He's likely to have surgery on his knee and could mis a few weeks.

Last thing: That story that emerged yesterday about Tom Candiotti getting Jeff Kent drilled by a pitch to help his fantasy team (this was a dozen years ago) is taking on a life of its own. As it should!

59 comments:

Nice to see the Boss has some sense. Go back to grooming a talented farm system, and stop overpaying for bloated aged talent. The Yankees won their championships with a hot young crop of farm talent, with just enough hired mercenaries to fill the gaps. The further away the team has gotten from that philosophy, the further away they've gotten from actually winning the WS.

ALCS - Nate Robertson wasn't actually *that* bad in Game 1. He had that one rough inning where the Yankees hit some real good pitches.

Cracking Down on Whining - I'd really like to see this. It is kind of ridiculous how after every call you know you are going to see whining. Detroit is very guilty of this and it is annoying as hell. And Lebron does it everytime he gets called for something and everytime he misses a shot and thinks he should get a foul.

Cracking down on the whining really isn't a solution to the problem. The league created this problem by allowing the referees to be wildly inconsistent on their calls. Sometimes if the air you breathe ruffles the jersey of another player you get called for a foul, and other times you have to club another player over the head to get a foul. Make the calls consistent, and THEN you really can crack down on the whining.

just a comment about Louisville rushing Brohm back VS Cincinati. As we saw this past weekend, any team can lose on any given Saturday. Auburn lost to an unranked team (yes, they are ranked now but we're talking about before the game) and they were #2. I think most of us will probably agree that Auburn is better than Louisville, although it is debatable. So even if Cincinati isn't as good as Arkansas, Louisville isn't as good as Auburn. Petrino is just trying to make his team the best it can be.

I'm sorry, the players should be allowed to complain as much as they want. I saw the Finals where Dwayne Wade was somehow fouled on just about every possession. Heck, one play he PUNCHED Nowitzki and Nowitzki got called for a foul. Yeah, whine it up guys (I do wish Lebron would stop though).

jesus christ you recognized the manningham kids, now you know their OCD will fuel them to post incessantly about it.

Once again the media blows up about something that is a non-story (see T.O.'s O.D.) and Torre isn't being fired. I have to say I am surprised, this is the exact knee jerk reaction that I expected from the franchise that signed Shef&Pavano over Vlad&Beltran.

If the NBA wants to fix things, Stern should consider dropping the number of personal fouls allowed to 5, or make it like soccer and make T's carry over to the next game(s). I bet Ra-sheed would stop acting like a Ra-tard if he went into the first minutes of a game carrying a technical from last week.

Cubs&Girardi, we all knew it was going to happen, it goes together like drinking and nightswimming. Are they going to actually spend money on the team to help their new manager? These are not the marlins who have repeatedly fleeced hot young prospects from the other MLB teams year in and out for their vets, the cupboard is looking a little bare on the north side, I hope they don't expect miracles unless they are willing to open up the checkbook.

Worst MNF game since...the Pit/Jax one a few weeks back. Looked like Purdue v. Michigan 1995.

Culpepper shouldn't have played this season to begin with, you always read that it takes 2 yrs to come back from a knee injury (though somehow Deuce is back and looking good this year...thought I heard something about a new surgical technique though) Wonder if the fish wish they'd made more of a push at Drew Brees?

I'm sure manningham will be fine by 11/18, that's all that matters anyway, besides if #86 won the heisman then Desmond H. would lose his claim to fame (last WR to win it)

Maybe Petrino found a little cache of crazy left by John L. ? Only reason I could see them playing Brohm before the WVU game, unless they are that paranoid about him being rusty and costing them the WVU game.

I'm telling you, it's just one crazy guy. Look at the timing of "their" posts. Yes, I'm proud to have him on my side.

NBA -Yes, please. Start T-ing up BronBron as quickly as you T up Rasheed. I'm not gonna complain about what Rasheed brings on himself, but I would love to see officials start to treat all players more equally.

Maybe LeBron wouldn't have to complain to the refs if he would actually get some calls. I watch every Cavs game and it's amazing the number of times LeBron gets hammered, but doesn't get the call because he's so strong that he still gets the shot up. Meanwhile, a defender puts a hand on D-Wade and he's going to the line.

I'll be a bleeding heart here..Dan, if that other Aussie who was 'injured' is Steve Irwin..that's a bit tasteless, considering the man died from his 'injury'. Even if you crossed it out.If you meant some other Aussie, nevermind.

I picked the Tigers v the Cards for the Series...I'm still looking good. Leyland does what he wants.

Also..how about those Columbus Blue Jackets!! 5 out of a possible 6 points already! Best team in hockey, IH!

BTW here's a new posting I saw on another blog about the one and only MM...

Dan thanks for giving him so space on your blog. You know how to get us to love you more. I want you to share our man crush for MM and move away from pinch hitting QB Tebow

Here's the update

"I was hanging out at the University of Michigan Medical Center, and I saw Super Mario himself (in a wheelchair!). He had a full cast on both legs and a metal halo stabilizing his neck. He told me he'll be back in 3 weeks. I'm not a doctor, but man that seems like they're rushing it a bit, don't you think? Usually cervical neck fractures are bad news, and as Dan says, f'ing up a knee ligament is not good."

Well let me say it is refreshing being from Cleveland and reading/hearing the jealousy pointed at LeBron, instead of constantly being the jealous ones. In his defense, he is hardly the only one guilty of this "so-called whining", he wasn't the first, and he won't be the last. Hell he is not even the worst. People seem to forget that "Superstar Treatment", has been around for a very longtime, longer than LeBron has been on this Earth. But to all of you critics, by all means keep your "whining" going, it will be sweet music as we hoist the The Trophy this year.

I think that maher has it about playing Brohm. If you want him for the WVU game, then you need to make sure he sees some game action before then to get some of the rust off. Or it could be as simple as seeing IF he can play in the WVU game. Find out beforehand so you aren't left scrambling during the WVU game and forced to play a backup who hasn't practiced much with the first team.

And Dan, unless I missed it, how could you not include Buck O'Neil in your Monday wrap up.

Chad Johnson > Manningham? I don't even know how that entered the conversation!

Oh, you meant a different C. Johnson, who is getting far more Heisman respect already, even though he has 11 more catches than Manningham, but only 25 more yards, not to mention one fewer touchdown.

Well, maybe if C.J. had caught 3 against ND like Mario did, Georgia Tech would be undefeated and looking pretty good right now. Oh, but no. That's right.

I don't know what you're whining about anyway. Johnson is already way up in the Heisman watch (I suspect preseason overrate-ment + inertia, although I've hardly heard of the guy), despite Manningham's better production. Plus, Manningham seems to be injured, so it's not like anybody's pushing that Heisman train very hard anymore.

Let me start off by saying that I have a strong dislike for all the whining that goes on in the NBA. Now, having said that, I don't believe that T-ing up players for whining will make the officiating better. Lets say an NBA player (doesn't matter who) coughs during a game. Since D Wade is in the gerneral vicinity a foul is called on the NBA player. The NBA player then says to the official "I only coughed" and he gets T-ed up. How is this fair? The point is that the calls are too inconsistant and this will be an issue until it doesn't matter what name is on the back of the jersey.

Hey, Shanoff, I know NASCAR isn't your thing, but how can you NOT say anything about Vickers, who is out of the Chase, wrecking Dale Jr. AND (his teammate) Jimmy Johnson on the last lap, pretty much putting both out of the Chase? I mean, this is crazy stuff.

I caught that NASCAR finish on SportsCenter and I couldnt stop laughing. This is why NASCAR is and always will be a redneck sport. Only a redneck could be stupid enough to think that rear ending a guy would help him.

I'd rather watch a random Mario Kart race over the biggest NASCAR race of the milennium any day.

mike, since you brought up the NASCAR talk I figured I'd run with it. I'm a pretty big Jr. fan seeing as how my father works for Budweiser and I loved his father so much but the Junior fans who flipped out over Vickers are crazy. At first sight I got upset but let's face it - Junior bumps guys in the corner all the time. As a matter of fact with like 20 to go he bumped Kurt Busch to make a pass in the corner which got a bunch of people upset.

I think what happened was when Johnson slide to the bottom he lost some speed from losing the air so Vickers was just going to fast and he slide Jimmy back up the track.

I thought it was a really good race and that's the kind of stupid stuff that happens on those restrictor plate tracks

the PSU team comes out of the tunnel Sat. to roaring cheers...followed by the subsquent boos for the UM team. Then about 3-5 min later, after the crowd settles a bit, we see a slender player in maize & blue steak out of the tunnel...WEARING THE #1. It's MM, baby....the crowd is very unsettled as #1 steaks to midfield and gives all 4 sides of the stadium the Pete Weber-hip-blast manuver. Boos rain down....

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DanShanoff.com is a sports-blog spin-off of my long-time ESPN.com column, "The Daily Quickie." Anchored by an early-morning post of must-know topics, the blog is updated frequently throughout the day with new posts and user comments.